Danish construction data for March a positive surprise

…sentiment +12% y-o-y/+46% m-o-m improvement

Stagnation continues, but seemingly no COVID-19 impact

New March data for construction is relatively flat
The Danish office of national statistics has published March data for the construction and ground engineering/civil works industry. The data is based on a sentiment survey of ~800 construction-related companies. Overall industry sentiment was an index score of -3.8 (12% y-o-y of -4.2 and 46% m-o-m of -7). This is the 7th negative sentiment score in a row, which indicates that the industry in total has stagnated; this also our opinion after discussions with industry participants. Overall, the data on sentiment for revenue generation have been stable in 2020, while sentiment on employment was low in February but seems to have normalised.

Industry order books continue to weaken
The industry order book for construction was -24 (-26% y-o-y of -19 and -20% m-o-m of -20), while ground engineering companies performed better at -23 than February (-21% y-o-y of -19 and +18% m-o-m of -28). The Danish office of national statistics cyclical indicator was -7, on a par with last year and as a result resembles the first 3 months for both 2008 and 2019, when surveys weakened at the beginning of the year. Overall, we believe that the relatively flat trend (following a weak February) in survey sentiment gives some comfort and the industry as a whole seems not to have been impacted by COVID-19 implications so far.

info@introduce.se (Introduce.se)

ABG Sundal Collier - Introduce.se